Lyralei
by Wrath Demon
Summary: Sirius Black left behind someone very important when he went to Azkaban; someone who's spent the last 10 years planning revenge...SiriusOC [NOTE: 5th BOOK NEVER HAPPENED]
1. Home, neglected home

AN: READ THIS FIRST!!!! Okay people, listen up. This story was written a few months before the fifth book came out, and since I'm choosing now to post it, I feel I owe some explanation. You are, however, free to ignore me for a sec while I bitch about it, (the book I mean).

            In my opinion, (and keep in mind that this is only an opinion), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was an utter disaster. I, like millions of other people, was Harry Potter's number one fan, and even then, after finishing the fifth book, I was disgusted enough to throw it away. Rowling completely ruined it! Not only did she unnecessarily kill my favorite character, she gave him a miserable role and by the end of the book, I was extremely willing to rip off Harry's and Dumbledore's heads.

            The book basically got rid of whatever interest I had in Harry Potter, and it was definitely not worth the three-year wait. It simply wasn't up to the mark. I find it a pity, since Rowling's first 4 books were marvels. Perhaps she can redeem herself in the next book, but I can safely say that I won't loose sleep waiting for it.

            **Okay, there, I'm done ranting. Anyway, when you read this story, keep in mind that the fifth book NEVER HAPPENED. This story begins in the time frame of the 3rd book or so. All right, having said all that (and I'm pretty sure I lost half my potential readers with this author's note), on to the story!**

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(Oh, no wait. Almost forgot the disclaimer).

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters in the books written by J.K.Rowling. However, this story, as well as Lyralei, is mine. This fic is purely for entertainment purposes only.

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(Still with me? Good; now here's the story).

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            It was about 10:30 PM and all was quiet and dark in the relatively secluded street. Suddenly, a woman appeared on the front porch of one of the houses. No one saw her, but then again, that was to be expected, for though this woman was quite special, her neighbors didn't know...

            Lyralei Maxwell apparated wearily in front of her door and fumbled for her keys. She did a temporary disable check on her wards, saw that all was fine, and opened the door to her elegant, though neglected condo, where she lived alone. She threw her keys onto the counter and collapsed wearily into her leather sofa, which really wasn't meant to take such abuse. All she really wanted to do now was sleep; sleep and quite possibly never wake up again, for she was that exhausted. 

            Lyralei was a witch, who was powerfully magical. She was smart too, and that was always a great combination, so she worked for the Ministry of Magic. Lyr used to be a Class 1 Auror, but ever since the fall of the Dark Lord, Aurors weren't needed as much any more. The Ministry wasn't about to let them go, however, so instead put most of them "temporarily" at other jobs. Lyr was tossed around in various departments for a few years, traveling and learning a lot, and doing all she could, and then worked at more and more permanent jobs of more importance. She never completely stopped her Auror training however, and was now in a very important position in the Ministry. Her quick promotions were mainly due to the fact that she basically lived at work. Her work had become her whole life about 12 years back, for it was a lifeline for her; a way to not think about, and at the same time slowly extract revenge for how her whole life was ruined on that Halloween night, so many years ago...

            Lyralei groaned and got up to order Pizza. She didn't like to cook anymore, and only did it when she absolutely had to. Lyr was never that much of a cook anyway, and she grinned as she thought of herself and a certain black-haired someone in the kitchen. Man, did they make a mess of things, but it was great fun. Then again, anything was great fun when it came to Sirius...No way, Lyr. Do _not go there. she said to herself. Firmly wrenching her thoughts to safer subjects, she looked at the fine dust that covered the coffee table and frowned. God, how long was it since I bothered to clean this place?  she wondered, and winced as she realized that it was almost 3 days since she had even left work to come home; 3 days since she had last eaten or slept. It wasn't the first time she worked so hard, and it wouldn't be the last. In fact, most of the last decade or so had been like this, not that she was complaining..._

            Lyralei would have worked more, for in this state of crisis she was extremely busy and needed, but she was kicked out of her office just now by a few well-meaning colleagues, who insisted that she looked like shit and needed some rest before she collapsed completely. And, looking at the mirror, Lyralei realized that they were right. [Lyralei's normally pretty features were lacking. Her shoulder-length black hair was in complete disarray, and there were deep purple bags, almost like bruises, under her Prussian-blue eyes. Her slightly tanned skin was so un-naturally pale that she probably looked like a ghost.]

            She went and took a shower, coming out just as the bell rang, indicating that the Pizza had arrived. Lyralei was a witch, certainly, but she had been muggle born, and things like ordering pizza was nothing out of the ordinary for her. 

            After she ate a little bit, Lyr went straight to bed and was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. Her last conscious thought was to order her mind to wake her up as soon as daybreak.

            \tap, tap. tap tap./ an impatient rapping noise was coming from the window. Lyralei moaned and blinked her eyes open, squinting in the bright sunlight at the owl outside. Whoa, _bright sunlight_?! What time is it? she thought in alarm. 

            She looked at her watch as she got up to open her window, and let loose a string of very colorful vocabulary that she would never have used in decent company. SHIT she thought as she read the Ministry letter the owl had given her, saying that she had a meeting with Crouch today.

            Lyralei considered half-heartedly to skip the meeting altogether, but knew she couldn't. God, how she hated that man. She forced herself to be civil enough to his face, for it would completely damage her standing in the Ministry to insult such an important member. But then again, Sirius's jailer didn't really deserve any niceties. 

            Lyralei grinned as she thought of the way she came and hexed the man right after he threw Sirius into Azkaban. Not only did she do that, she went and gave him a black eye the old fashioned way; with her fists. The damage she did to her reputation that day took years to repair, but it was worth every bit of it.

            As of now, she and Crouch had a very formal, semi-decent sort of relationship. Until a few years ago, Crouch ignored her existence, and was, in truth, slightly apprehensive of Lyr. No one could blame him. A pissed off Lyralei was a very scary sight. In recent years however, as Lyralei gained mounting importance, and as her work brought her closer to Crouch's department, the two were forced to acknowledge each other again, and fortunately, so far at least, there had been no actual fights between them.

            Lyralei got ready at top speed and ran out of her house, disapparating just as soon as she locked the door. There were protection spells which prevented anyone from using apparation inside her house, which was a very necessary, though sometimes inconvenient, safety measure.

            Lyr cursed under her breath again as her secretary immediately assaulted her with schedules and questions as soon as she entered her office. This was going to be one hell of a day.

AN: Okay, so what did you think? This story gets a lot better, I promise. So how about you make my day and review, huh?


	2. The Escape

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter. This story is non-profitable, and is purely for entertainment purposes only. Also, please remember that I wrote this way before the fifth book ever came out. Any resemblance is simply a very freaky coincidence.

            Lyralei Maxwell apparated swiftly to the high-security conference building at about noon. According to her secretary, her meeting was to be not only with Crouch, but with several important others, including the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge. Lyralei wasn't informed about what the meeting was going to concern, but as the Minister was present, it was bound to be a number one priority, and probably dangerous in nature. Things concerning Lyralei and her department often were.

            Lyr walked briskly to the meeting room and was announced in by an intern. After a quick round of greetings, she seated herself at the round Formica conference table and picked up her manila envelope. Then Steven Vasrien, the head of the Magical Enforcement Squad, stood up. Vasrien was a capable wizard, pretty good at his job, but he had a horrible tendency to prolong something, especially speeches, even at the most urgent of times. 

            Clearing his throat for attention, he began, 

            "Minister, ladies, gentlemen, I called you here today because I have some very astounding, yet grievous news to report," he announced, pausing for effect.  "Last night, we found out that prisoner Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban."

            This was obviously news to everyone present, and for about five seconds, there was a dead silence. Then, the table seemed to explode.

            Almost everyone tried to talk at once. At least two people screamed. The Minister's aide fainted on the spot, and Rori Bellows, the Ministry's Media Head jumped up with his wand and started looking around frantically as if he thought that Sirius Black was in the room with them. The Minister himself finally found his voice and shouted through the din, trying to yell at Vasrian. Finally, Crouch let off a huge _BANG_ with his wand, and everyone shut up for a moment.

            Lyralei, for the most part, was incredibly grateful to all the confusion, because she knew that if people had their heads screwed on properly, their automatic reaction would be to look at her to see how she was handling the news. Fortunately, by that time she managed to master herself enough to slip on an expressionless mask over her face, and just managed to temporarily blank out the turmoil that was raging through her. 

            Focus on the task at hand she told herself, knowing full well how delicate her position was at the moment. If they got any sort of suspicion that she was happy about this, or relieved, or anything, she would be done for. Everyone knew how hard she tried to get Sirius off the hook before. For her own part, this had come as a complete shock to her, and when she heard just now, Lyr reeled in her chair and if she were standing, she was sure her legs would have given away beneath her.

            "Silence, all of you!" snapped Crouch. Then he focused on Vasrien. "How can this be? It is impossible to escape from Azkaban; there's no way he could have done it! Not without help, at least..."

            Vasrien sighed and looked at Crouch wearily. "We have no idea how he could have done it, sir. The dementors didn't know either. They are blind, after all. The only thing I could think of that might have got him out of there is dark magic, powerful, that too. Though how he had the strength to cast it is beyond me. And no one entered Azkaban after your visit Minister, that much is for certain."

            Then Fudge, who had turned quite pale, sputtered up, "This is preposterous! I inspected Azkaban just yesterday, and Black was certainly there then! Have you sent anyone out to find him?"

            Vasrien nodded, "I sent a whole team out. They've been searching since last night, but nothing's turned up so far. I was afraid of taking any more immediate action until this crisis was informed to you."

            Then Lyr decided that she had better get it together and say something. This was her job, after all, and besides, Crouch was looking at her in a most peculiar way.

            "Do you have any leads at all?" she asked. "Has someone interrogated the dementors that were guarding him? Something must have happened recently to aid or encourage Black to attempt an escape. A powerless wreck of a wizard doesn't suddenly escape for no particular reason after 12 years."

            "No particular reason?" scoffed Belinda Sores, who was part of Inter-Muggle Relations. "What about freedom? A chance to get back to his master and back into the world."

            The people in the room, if it was possible, seemed to pale even more when Sores mentioned 'his master.'

            "Don't be stupid," Lyralei snapped. "Azkaban prisoners are not capable of rational thought, at least not after 12 years in that hell. If Black wanted to escape for those reasons, he would have tried this years ago, not now, not after so long."

            Then the Minister spoke up. "Actually Lyralei, Black didn't exactly measure up to those criteria."

            Everyone looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

            The Minister frowned, troubled. "When I saw Black yesterday, well, let's just say it was quite unsettling. He wasn't like the other prisoners. In fact, he was quite sane, just like you or me. He asked me, quite calmly, if I was done with my paper, because he wanted to do the crossword. I really couldn't believe it. I mean, he's one of the most heavily guarded in the place; with dementors around him day and night."

            Lyr almost grinned. She managed to catch herself in time, but couldn't stop the flash of something that looked suspiciously like pride on her face. She couldn't help it, even if she had no right to have the feeling. Crouch, with his sharp eyes trained on Lyralei's face, caught it, even though it appeared for less than a second. Lyralei knew this, and cursing inwardly, she tried to cover it up.

            "You gave him the paper?" she demanded in fake rage, "Then maybe that's what caused this! And what about the interrogation?"

            Vasrien spoke up. "Yes, there was an interrogation. All the guards said the same thing. There was only one change in the prisoner's habits, apparently, although it may be quite important. It could be the very clue we need, though I don't know what it means. It seems that Black had been talking in his sleep the nights before his escape. Always the same thing too. He apparently kept repeating the words: _He's at Hogwarts."_

            "Is that it?" someone asked, while another person voiced, "Who's at Hogwarts?

            "We don't know," Vasrien replied. "That's all he kept saying."

Meanwhile, Crouch, who had kept silent all this time, spoke up with an arrested look on his face: "Potter."

            Several people gasped, and looked sharply at Crouch. "What?"

            "Potter," he repeated. "Harry Potter. Black must be after the boy. It makes perfect sense. Something he saw in the paper must have informed him of the boy's whereabouts. Or maybe he looked at the date and deduced the information. It's not that hard to figure out. What better way to avenge his master's downfall than to get rid of the Boy Who Lived?"

            Fear was now present on all the faces in the room.

            "What shall we do?" asked someone frantically. "We can't let him get Harry Potter!"

            Fudge spoke up again, authoritatively. "The first thing we need to do is recapture Black. This escape will not remain a secret, and must be considered as a Code Red operation. Everyone in the Ministry must be informed so they can help find Black, and the Daily Prophet must hear of this from us, before some rumor leaks out."

            Various people nodded and started to get to work right there.

            "Minister, what about the muggles?" inquired Belinda Sores. "Oughtn't we to warn them of Black? He is a danger to everyone, not just us. Besides, they could help keep a look out for him."

            The Minister frowned slightly but agreed to her request. "Yes, you're right. Arrange a meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister. Black must be found!" he said. "At any cost!"

            "What is going to be done about young Potter, then?" someone asked.

            Lyralei spoke up, "Harry should be safe at his guardians place for now. He has been his whole life, and this shouldn't change that fact. Afterwards he will be off to Hogwarts, under the care of Dumbledore. I don't think the boy is in any immediate danger as long as he stays where he's supposed to be."

            Fudge nodded, "Yes, that's right. I'll go and inform Dumbledore myself of course, first thing."

            After that, the meeting went swiftly. The media people went off to inform the public. Then came the conflict.

            Lyralei took a deep breath and said, "Minister, I'd like to head the investigation on Black. I'll make it my top priority as of now."

            "No!" said Crouch immediately. "You can't possibly handle this. You have no right."

            Lyralei's eyes flashed dangerously. "This is as much my job as anyone else here. I am fully qualified and this does fall somewhat into my line of work."

            Fudge looked at the two, who were currently shooting daggers at each other. "Well..." he started.

            Crouch turned to him and said harshly, "Minister, you can't possibly consider this ludicrous proposal! Have you all but forgotten Miss Maxwell's history?! It is-"

            "History," Lyralei cut in. "Exactly Crouch. It's in the past, all of it, and I have long since put it behind me. I am the perfect person to lead this investigation, and you all know it."

            "That doesn't excuse you from anything!" Crouch yelled. "Do you take us all for fools? Did you expect everyone to forget your past with Black? How you attempted to free him, never believing in his guilt?! Besides, this is Vasrien's job, not yours!"

            Lyralei was at a loss for a moment, but then recovered and glared at Crouch murderously, "I was delusional then, Crouch. My best friends had just died. I didn't want to lose anyone else. I realized the truth long ago. Black was a horrid traitor who didn't deserve to live! He hurt me more than anyone else in the world, forcing me to wrap my life around him, and then destroying it when the time was right. It was a lie, damnit! My whole life concerning him was a lie!" 

            By now Lyralei was shaking in rage and disgust at herself. Enough so that she probably even fooled Crouch at the time. She took a few breaths to steady herself, more than a little surprised at the passion in her voice, and went on more calmly, with a steely note in her tone. 

            "Black betrayed me. He killed my friends. He ruined my life. And you know what they say," she said, letting out a humorless laugh, "A woman never forgets. If there is anyone in this world who has a right to want revenge on him it's me. Let me find him. Let me capture him, please." Lyralei then looked right into Crouch's eyes, then into the Minister's. "I won't fail you."

AN: No one reviewed the last chapter :(     I decided to post this anyway, but please please please review this one! It's quite depressing posting stuff when you don't know if anybody's reading it. Ciao!


	3. Contemplation

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If ya need anything more, look at my previous disclaimers.

            Lyralei Maxwell was a very strong, important, and self-assured person who hadn't been sick in over a year. So why exactly was she on her knees praying to the porcelain god in the Lady's room? Sirius, that's why. It all came down to Sirius Black. She had just managed to get out of the conference room and head straight here, as the full weight of everything she had just found out and all that she had said hit her in the chest like a two-by-four.

            After she stopped heaving, she found out that she had a pounding headache, worse than anything she'd had in a long time. Lyralei sat still for a while, resting her forehead against the cool wall and just concentrated on breathing.

            He was back. Oh Holy Shit, Sirius had escaped. It was as if her greatest dream and worst nightmare had come true at the same time. She still couldn't process the fact properly. Now what was she going to do? Before, when the thought of him tormented her, she would bury herself in her work. It was like a haven for her. Now he was to be her work. 

            The little show she had put on for Crouch's benefit apparently worked, but not enough. Vasrian was to be the head of the investigation, as was originally planned, but they had given permission for Lyralei to work along side him and be given partial command. Lyralei knew she would never be given the lead, for she had her own department to take care of, after all. In a way, this worked out even better than her original plan, because no way in hell was she going to let them find Sirius. 

            She needed to mess up that investigation, even if it meant sacrificing her hard-earned job and current life. Lyralei cringed as she thought of that. She loved her work. She had devoted almost all her adult life to it. But now, if the investigation did get botched up, and she was careful about it, most of the blame would all come back to Vasrian, not her. It wasn't fair on him, true, but the blame would hit him much less hard than if it was on her. 

            Besides, she knew Sirius. He wasn't stupid enough to let himself be caught by the Ministry, even if she didn't manage to screw up the investigation. But then again, Lyralei reminded herself with a sinking feeling in her stomach, Sirius was known to be rash and impulsive. He didn't mind doing something stupid and dangerous; in fact, he loved it, the stupid fool.

            Lyralei still didn't know what to think right then, or even what to do. As she thought back on what she had said to Crouch during her little outburst, she felt sick to her stomach again. Everyone had been surprised at the passion in the normally stoic woman's voice, but what surprised (and ashamed) her most was the truth in what she said. The fact that, no matter how hard she tried to deny it, she did in some way believe the horrible things she had said about Sirius. She was bitter, even after all these years.

            To be straight up, Lyralei never knew for a fact whether Sirius was guilty or not. Unfortunately, all she knew was little more than what everyone else knew. She knew that Sirius had been James's and Lily's secret keeper, and about the whole Peter Pettigrew fiasco. There was something about the story that was off, but she didn't know what.

            Sirius hadn't even been given a trial. No one really objected, not when the evidence was so strong. Lyralei, however, needed an explanation. She needed the truth from Sirius himself; it would be the only thing that would help her move on. To what, she didn't know, because he was the thing that kept her going; the fact that he was at least alive.

However, he still had the power to shatter her again, and Lyr hated that. She was sure that one look at him would break through most of the walls and protective barriers that she had built over the years. Bottom line was she needed to find him. Lyralei had no idea what he was after. Harry was a good guess, but it didn't tally up with many other facts. She needed to find him, without the Ministry knowing, and she needed to talk to him.

            When it all had happened, Lyralei had no idea what to think. She still didn't, actually. At first, she wouldn't think about anything else but the fact that Sirius had to be innocent, or that there would be a very good explanation to all this. She had to stick by him no matter what; he was Sirius, after all, _her_ Sirius. 

Lyralei must have gone through and analyzed about a thousand different theories, each of which was no more likely than the last. But none of that changed the horrible, undeniable fact that Lily and James were murdered, and that Peter had been blown up. 

            After a little while, cold, hard, calculating reason overcame impossible faith. Then there was the fact that Dumbledore himself believed in Sirius's guilt. That was like a nail in his coffin. Even after all that though, Lyralei kept up a little hope. In what, she did not know, but she was too damn stubborn to give him up completely, especially not when everyone else had.

            She went through a lot though, such as years and years of accusations, people never believing in what she said, forcing her to think that she was wrong, and that Sirius had to be guilty. It was enough to shake the strongest person's faith.

So Lyralei stopped obsessing about it, or at least it seemed like that to the public. She went on with her life, somewhat blindly, towards some indefinable goal that had something to do with Sirius, and the mystery that had torn apart her life and gotten rid of almost everyone she loved in one night.

AN: I know, I know. It's kind of blaa. I'm not too happy with this chapter either. The next one will be better though. It's a kind of flashback with the gang and Dumbledore and stuff. Till next time then, and don't forget to press the pretty purple button down there!

And to all you wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter: MWPP, KarenBloody, Sio, and starsweepforme, thanks for the positive feedback. Really 'ppreciate it.


	4. The Mission

AN: I got my first flame!!! ~Points proudly~ well, technically it's a little too mild to be a flame, but it's a negative review nonetheless. Let's call the lucky person to the stand, shall we? Drum roll please, for…. The Cryptic Critic!!! Okay, so normally I would deal with a flamer by publicly humiliating them, but since this is my first, I'm going to humor you instead of insult you. Consider yourself lucky.

            First of all, I'd like to say that this story is not my best piece of work. Actually, it was the first fan fiction I ever wrote, so I suppose it's a bit sketchy in places. As to my opinions, I can damn well stick them where I please. Besides, they weren't in the story itself, but in the AN, which you didn't have to read. As to the pronoun thing, I don't think sticking a few more in there would have made any significant difference.

            Wow, I wrote a polite reply to a flame. Guess that means there _is_ a first, (and last), time for everything. Anyways, on to the story. I think you'll like this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**[FLASHBACK]        **

**_8 Days before Halloween, 12 years ago..._**

Nine people sat in complete silence in the round, circular room. A phoenix with a beautiful rose plumage gazed around at them. The people, although they didn't seem it, were weary, exhausted even. They all looked somewhat impressive, sitting there, grim and silent in emerald cloaks and hoods. A powerful aura emanated from all of them. Their faces were drawn and looked aged at the moment. It was the effect of constant worry and pressure.           

All heads snapped up as the door opened, and the most powerful wizard in the world, Albus Dumbledore, walked in. Looking at him, no one would really believe that this man was the greatest wizard there was. He was old, and his face was lined with more care than on all the other people in the room. Yet the power coming from him was incredible, and those that mattered knew better.

Dumbledore seated himself behind his desk and looked around gravely at the group, who were all staring at him with sharp, bright eyes. 

"Thank you all for coming," he said. Some nodded politely and murmured, but no one spoke, and they all waited for him to continue.       

"I have called all of you here to discuss several matters of dire importance. As we all know, the war is not going well. In fact, it's getting worse, due to some very recent developments that have occurred, and something must be done about them immediately, or we could all be lost."           

The people in the room still said nothing, but their faces grew even more alert, some slightly surprised at the dramatics. "Before I inform you of that however," Dumbledore continued, "there is the matter of Lily and James to be considered." 

All heads turned to two of the emerald hooded figures in the circle. The two people glanced at each other, and then turned back to Dumbledore.            

"James, you and Lily were to give us your decision tonight, concerning the meeting we had with Flitwick." 

One of the two figures, a man, looked up at Dumbledore and then removed his hood, revealing a mop of untidy black hair. Frowning slightly, the man said, "We still don't like the idea of hiding, Dumbledore, but all things considered, we figured that it was the best course of action; at least for the present."

The room was filled with audible sighs of relief at his decision.  "Good," Dumbledore said, smiling. "And about the Secret Keeper..."  

"We still stand firm on that," James said. "It has to be Sirius." 

Some people turned to glance quickly at another man, who also sat in the circle. Then, before another word could be said, a woman, who sat next to that man, took off her hood and looked at James and Lily, saying,

"James, come on. You know that would be a bad idea. Sirius is too obvious a choice! Anyone who knew you at all would assume that you'd pick Sirius to be your secret keeper!"

Dumbledore spoke up, "Lyralei is right. Sirius would be the first person they'd go after. It's not safe."  

"We trust Sirius with our lives, and we won't have anyone else do it," James said adamantly.            

"As if I don't!" Lyralei said angrily. "Hell, James, don't be so damn stubborn! Sirius is the first person they will go after, and they sure as hell can torture the information out of him! You need to choose somebody who's less obvious!"      

"Hey, hold on, I still happen to be here people. Don't I get a say in this?" asked the man sitting next to Lyralei, who was none other than Sirius Black.     

"No!" Lyralei said, still glaring at James.    Sirius ignored Lyralei and went on, "I completely agree with James and Lily. I'm going to be their secret keeper, no question about it. Besides, I _am_ the best one for the job. The death eaters won't find it very easy to capture me," he ended with a cocky grin.

Lyralei now looked desperate. "James, Lily, please, think about this. You know this isn't the wisest thing to do. Why don't you pick me instead? I'll be your secret keeper; you know you can trust me."

The woman who sat next to James, who was none other than Lily Potter, spoke up gently, "Yes, of course we trust you Lyr. But that's not the issue here; you know it isn't. If choosing Sirius isn't a wise idea, choosing you wouldn't be either. You are just as closely connected to us as he is. We know he's an obvious choice, but if the dark side can get their hands on Sirius, then that means they can get to almost anyone. In that case it's just a matter of time before we're discovered. Sirius is the best bet we have, and you know it."

Lyralei simply sank back in her chair, somewhat in defeat. Lily always was the only one who could get her to stop arguing. Dumbledore then said, "Yes, but there is one other option. You both know I have offered, and that offer still stands."

Lily smiled at her old Professor. "Yes, Albus, we know. And thank you, but we still stand firm on our decision."

Dumbledore nodded at them, almost sadly, as if he were mourning a loss yet to come. "Very well then...Now, for the rest of you," he said as the others in the group looked at him attentively. "A few days ago, Aurors from the Ministry managed to capture the death eater Ignius Brosny, as well as a few of his followers. This morning, however, we got word that they had escaped. They were still in solitary confinement at that time, and had not yet gone to Azkaban. We're not sure how they got away. One of the guards was found dead, another stunned, and the others were not present at the time."

Lyralei frowned. "This is horrible news, surely, but how is it going to affect the war?"

Dumbledore went on, "I believe you all have heard about Orlin's Jewel, also called the Necromancer Crystal? It is the only stone in the world that yields the power of Necromancy, which is a magic so dark that no decent wizard, or even any evil wizard can hope to use or control it. Even I do not know how to fight it. Necromancers do not exist anymore, and have not since the dark ages. Necromancy is the Art of the Dead, and is closely related to Demonology and the Underworld."

Dumbledore paused his explanation to look at the faces of everyone in the room, and to see what they made of this so far. Then he went on, even more gravely, "The last famous Necromancer was a man called Orlin. He was actually related to Merlin, being his second cousin or so. Orlin was a very powerful wizard, although dark, and he delved a little too deeply into the art of Necromancy. It was his downfall.

He had foresight, however, and he knew that this evil art was failing, and so he created Orlin's Jewel. He was taken by the Underworld a few years later, but before that, Orlin's Jewel became known and feared all over the world. Orlin took it away and hid it, but before he died, he told his heir where it was. Orlin then forbid his heir or anyone else to ever use the Necromancer Crystal. Even Merlin never dared to go find it. Orlin declared a doom that the Crystal would lie in its hiding place until there came one who was worthy of wielding its power. In the ages to follow, Orlin's Jewel simply became a dark legend, but it is said that the information as to its whereabouts is still passed on through the generations by Orlin's heirs."

"But what does this have to do with us or with Brosny's escape?" Lyralei questioned, although she had been fascinated by the story.

"Brosny," Dumbledore said, looking right into Lyralei's eyes, "is the last descendent of Orlin's heir. He knows where the crystal is, and if he gives it to Voldemort, then we are all doomed."

A stunned silence followed this horrific statement. 

Now, the other 5 members of this group were Amanda Simons, who was a respected Historian and Magical Theoretician, Jamal Naistu, a famous curse breaker from Nairobi, Arabella Figg, of the Department of Mysteries, and John Stillas and Kobi Mastons, who were both Aurors along with Lyralei.

Then John spoke up tentatively, "So you're saying Brosny is going after the Crystal. But why now? He could have given _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named the Crystal years back. Why did he wait till now to do this?"_

Amanda Simons answered, "I don't think he knew about the Crystal or anything until recently. Brosny is relatively young, and according to the Doom placed by Orlin, the information is only passed on after the heir reaches a certain age, or right before the previous heir dies. I think Brosny's mother passed away recently, and she was the last descendent of Orlin. Even then, Brosny would not have realized the significance or the truth to this legend. The only reason he is after the Crystal now is because it must have come into Lord Voldemort's attention. I'm pretty sure that the Death Eaters would do anything to gain their master's favor."

Now almost everyone in the group was staring at Amanda in amazement. She looked around, faintly amused. "You forget I'm a Historian. I have studied this matter and several obscure others, which are wrongly considered by most to be unimportant, very thoroughly." she said matter-of-factly.

Dumbledore smiled at her through his half-moon spectacles. "Ms. Simons is absolutely correct, which is why I called her to this meeting."

"So we have to stop Brosny from getting to the Crystal," Sirius said. "How are we supposed to do that? I mean, does anyone have any idea at all as to its whereabouts? Brosny could be searching anywhere in the world right now."

"We have taken care of that problem already," Kobi Mastons said, sneering slightly at Sirius, "Brosny was interrogated by a few of us yesterday, so we know his intentions and the exact location of the Crystal."

"I see, and since you were feeling so proud and full of yourself after the interrogation, you decided to lower your guard and let the man escape, is that it?" Sirius shot back at Mastons.

Mastons glowered at him and opened his mouth to argue, but a possible brawl was prevented by Lily Potter, who cut in smoothly.

"Professor, this information is quite important, isn't it? Shouldn't the Ministry themselves be informing us of this?"

Arabella Figg answered her question, saying delicately, "Our Head of Department thought it best to inform Dumbledore of this first, as we don't think this matter should be made public to the entire Ministry just yet. You see, our department has completely processed the information of the interrogation, and has gotten in contact with our counterparts in Kenya, where the Crystal is said to be. Meanwhile, the Ministry is currently under a lot of pressure and is a bit, well, ah, in turmoil to tell you the truth. But even I don't know all of the information concerning this case. It was all directly given to Professor Dumbledore."

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, and now I shall tell you all of it. The Crystal is indeed in Kenya, in the capital city of Nairobi. It was hidden in a secret temple somewhere, of which our friend Mr. Naistu can tell you more."

Jamal Naistu nodded and continued the explanation in a heavily accented voice.  "The Crystal is in one of the underground shrines in Nairobi, where I am from. It is most likely heavily guarded, as many of these shrines are. They are safely hidden by magic, so no muggles know of them anymore. I have gotten into and broken many of the shrines before, but many contained only tombs. Most of these Shrines were built for tribal Princes in ancient Africa, who employed "Medicine Men" as they called some wizards back then, to make them. Anyway, this Shrine is supposed to be somewhere in a Western Grassland, near the Ondungo Woods. Even if we reach the general area, we still have to find the Shrine and break into it. It will not be that easy."

"This is why Mr. Naistu, and most probably another curse breaker from our Ministry will be going on this expedition. Jamal is, by the way, our contact from the Kenyan Ministry, and will be able to get you through there without any trouble." Dumbledore said.

"All right," Lyralei said briskly. "When do I and the others leave? And who are the others, exactly?"

"What?!" Sirius exclaimed. "What do you mean 'I and the others'? No way you're going on this trip."

Lyralei glared at him. "Excuse me," she said icily, "but I don't remember asking your permission, and frankly I don't see how it's any of your business whether I go or not. It's _my job we're talking about."_

"Please," Dumbledore cut in, "I must ask you two to continue your discussion later. And, in answer to Miss Maxwell's questions, she will in fact be going." At this Sirius opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when Dumbledore raised a hand and said, "Please let me finish. Miss Maxwell will be accompanied by Mrs. Simons, Mr. Naistu, Miss Figg, and Mr. Stillas and Mr. Mastons. You may get another member or two on your team however; you'll know later. All of you are to meet with Bartemius Crouch tomorrow at 0900 hours in Conference room B12 at the Ministry headquarters. He will give you your final instructions, and then you'll be off."

Again, Sirius opened his mouth to say something, and again, Dumbledore cut in, knowing exactly what he was going to ask. 

"And no, Mr. Black, you cannot go, I'm afraid, even in Lyralei's stead. You and the Potters have to stay to complete the Fidalus Charm. I'm sure you have some idea of how complicated that particular Charm is, and how it takes a lot of time, patience, and most of all, the presence of all the members participating."

"But,-"

"If you come," Lyralei said, cutting him off, "then I get be Lily and James's Secret Keeper. You chose, Sirius, what'll it be?" She asked, smirking slightly because she knew that there was no way Sirius could come now.

Sirius looked at her desperately, "You can't go Lyr! Damnit, it's too dangerous! This is practically a suicide mission!"

"Like I said, it's my job! And when has something being dangerous ever stopped any of us before?" Lyralei asked in exasperation at the conversation, which they both knew was pointless.

Then, as if to add fuel to the fire, Kobi Mastons leaned back casually and said, "Relax Black. I'll be there to watch Lyr, you can be sure of it..." He ended, eyeing Lyralei in a way that made Sirius's blood boil.

Just in time, James managed to grab Sirius before he could pounce on Kobi and tear his throat out or something equally worse. And right before Lyralei managed to get her wand out, Arabella Figg placed a restraining hand on her shoulder and said "That's enough, all of you! We have enough worries without us fighting each other. We're on the same side, remember? At least save the arguments for later; we have a serious matter to discuss right now!"

Sirius growled and pulled away from James. Lyralei simply looked away.

"What happened to the team of Aurors that originally captured Brosny? They were all of Class A too, weren't they?" John Stillas asked.

"Yes, they were," Dumbledore replied. "I believe that Alastor Moody was among them. Moody has already gone off on another mission, as well as a few others, and the rest of the Aurors were left in no condition to be going anywhere for a while, I'm afraid."

Then Dumbledore looked at the group very gravely. "I must impress upon you how important this mission is. IT MUST NOT FAIL. The only room for failure is if Voldemort falls in the next week or so, and I can almost assure you that's not going to happen. This is a very covert operation, which is why there aren't very many of you assigned to this. Mrs. Simons and Mr. Naistu will be needed to find and, if possible, contain or destroy the stone. Mrs. Simons has the research done that shows how. The Aurors will have to take care of Brosny and possibly a few followers he might have along. Brosny will not have told very many of his fellow Death Eaters about all this, because he will surely want to keep all the credit to himself. However, it is likely that a few might follow him anyway, so be warned. Miss Figg is the representative and recorder for our Ministry, and this mission falls right into her department. Lily, James, and Sirius are acting as witnesses to this meeting. Remember, our success now lies in secrecy and not in numbers; which is why we aren't sending as many Aurors as we normally would have. As all of you undoubtedly know, we need to finish this quickly and quietly. Good luck."

The entire group regarded Dumbledore solemnly. Then, as one, they replaced their hoods and quietly vanished from the room.

AN: Told you the story got better. :)

ANNE( v )79: Thank-ye lots.

MWPP: Yeah, can't say I'm very fond of those idiots either. Hmm, maybe I should have a little fun with those two…~grins evilly~

PadfootProngs: Exactly. I really don't see how she's going to make the next book any better. J.K basically dug a hole for herself with OOTP. Thanks for reviewing!

Lyanire: Umm, the chapter says that Lyralei has partial command in the investigation. I know it's vague, but she explains her role in a bit more detail in an upcoming chapter.


	5. Old Friends

AN: This chapter does **not** continue in a flashback, just so you know. We're back to the present.

Disclaimer: Come on people, you know the drill. I DON'T own Harry Potter.

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Lyralei stepped up to the small, slightly run down house in apprehension; although she had no reason to be nervous, not really, anyway. She had come here straight from work, the same day as that meeting, as though driven by some invisible force.

Lyralei took a deep breath, steeling herself and fighting the mad urge to run away, and then knocked on the door, rapping the top left engraved gargoyle twice and hitting the middle square once, so as not to set off any safety wards. The door opened a few moments later, and Lyralei found herself looking into the face of one of her oldest friends, Remus Lupin.

Lupin stared at Lyralei, slightly shocked to say the least. Then he recovered rather quickly, looked beyond her into the empty street to make sure she was alone, and then hastily pulled the young woman inside, closing the door behind them.

"Hey," Lyralei said, rather shyly.

"Lyralei, it's great to see you."

"You too."

The pair just stood there, looking at each other for a while. Lyralei hadn't seen Remus in years. She loved him dearly, just like she cared for all her other friends, but they had grown apart, which was stupid of them both. They were almost all each other had of the past, but it had come to a point where memories were too hard to bear.

They stopped seeing each other after the original crisis ended, even though they had needed each other more than ever. Although, with all the fights they had gotten into before then, being distant was probably the only thing that had saved their fragile friendship.

Remus broke the silence first, going straight to the point, "You came to tell me about him, didn't you?"

Lyralei looked slightly startled. "So you know already..."

Remus simply nodded. Lyralei looked at him, and she felt a prickly feeling behind her eyes, so she turned away, back towards the door. Oh god, no Lyr, you haven't cried in years, don't start now damnit, at least not in front of him...

But then Remus tentatively touched her shoulder and began, "Lyri..."

The use of her childhood nickname after over a decade of detachment, and the effect of seeing Remus, who had always been like a surrogate brother to her after so long and everything that had happened recently all fell on Lyralei and before she knew it she was doing something she hadn't done in about 12 years; she started to bawl like a baby, all dignity gone, while Remus gathered her in his arms and led her to the couch, all the while trying to comfort her.    [AN: Whoa, talk about run-on sentences].

Lyralei stopped crying fairly quickly, completely disgusted at her behavior, but stayed in Remus's embrace for a while as both the friends gained some much needed comfort. Then she broke away, still sniffling.

"I'm sorry," Lyralei said, bending her head shamefully as Remus handed her a tissue.

"For what?" Remus asked in a surprised tone, although he knew perfectly well for what.

"For a lot of things. For crying like that in front of you, when I haven't done it at all in years. For coming and bothering you like this, for making you see me in such a state, for-,"

"Lyri," Remus said, interrupting her. Lyralei looked at him dully.

"Shut up, okay?" Remus said. "What you should be apologizing for is not coming to see me for so long, although I suppose in that case I owe you an apology too."

Lyralei persisted, "But still, I should never have broken down like that, least of all in front of someone..."

Remus looked at her, slightly exasperated. "Lyralei, look at me," he said firmly. "You are one of the strongest people I know, and it's perfectly all right to cry once in a while. It's almost unnatural that you don't, so stop being an idiot about it. And by the way, I'm not just 'someone'; I'm your friend. You can do anything in front of me, you know that."

"Yeah, I know," Lyr said, "but I never, I mean, since then, I don't..."

"I know," Remus said quietly.

Lyralei looked at her friend gratefully for a moment, then sighed and settled back into the couch, resting her head on Remus's shoulder.

"We're idiots, aren't we?" Lyr asked her friend. "I mean, to let things come to this stage."

"Yeah, we are," Remus agreed as he put a comforting arm around Lyr's shoulders.

The two sat in silence for a while, watching the yellow and orange flames flicker in the fireplace in front of them.

Then Lyralei spoke up. "So, what're we going to do then?"

Remus sighed, the firelight making him look older and wearier than he was. "I'm not sure. What part are you playing in all of this at work?"

"I'm, uh, honorary Second in Command of the investigation."

"I see," Remus looked down at her speculatively, "and you're looking to botch it up, I suppose?"

"You bet," Lyralei said without hesitation. "You know I can't let them get to him, Remus, no matter what the facts may be."

"Lyralei..."

"Don't start Reems, I'm already as screwed up as I can be about this, and we've had this discussion a million times before."

Remus sighed again and said instead, "Tea?"

"Sure," Lyralei said, thankful that he had decided to leave the subject alone for a moment.

Remus got up and led the way to his kitchen, while Lyralei followed him obediently.

The two settled themselves on opposite sides of the small round table in Remus's kitchen and drank in silence for a while.

"So how did you know, and how much do you know?" Lyralei asked.

"Well, the Ministry gave a red alert just about 2 hours ago on the WWN, as well as an emergency announcement on a special edition of the Daily Prophet. I have it right here," Remus replied, handing her the paper. "Didn't you know all of this?"

Lyralei shook her head absently as she scanned the paper. "No, I had a meeting with the Minister this morning about the escape, and after that I was completely swamped. I barely got my head together."

"So, how accurate is the article?"

"Pretty accurate actually, considering the Ministry doesn't know much themselves at this point. They have no idea how he's escaped, but..."

"What?" Remus asked wearily.

"Well, uh," Lyralei looked a little uncomfortable, "they, um, they think he's going after Harry," she stated bluntly, saying the last part in a bit of a rush.

Remus just looked at her, his face slightly disbelieving.

Lyralei tried to explain further. "You see, according to the dementors, he had been talking in his sleep, and he kept saying the words, 'He's at Hogwarts,' so the Ministry, or rather Crouch, thinks he wants to kill Harry to avenge his master's death, or something like that."

"So what's being done to protect Harry?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lyralei asked harshly. "You actually believe that bullshit?!"

Remus opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Lyralei leaned her forehead on her hands and said "Sorry. Bad day and all that. It's a valid possibility of course, but nothing is being done about Harry. He's safe as long as he stays where he is. Dumbledore's seen to that long ago, remember?" she said, stating the last part a little bitterly.

Remus replied softly, "Yes, of course."

They didn't say anything for a while. After that Halloween night, the question of Sirius's guilt was a very testy subject for both the friends, and discussions concerning it often ended in yells, and in one case, itchy purple fur and horns that didn't come off for a week. Remus, like Lyralei, didn't know what to believe when it came to Sirius. But somehow, when they argued about it, and someone had to take pro and the other con, Remus usually ended up supporting the guilty verdict. They both, in some way, believed in Sirius's guilt, but they both also wanted nothing more than to be proven wrong. The easiest thing to do was to reach an unspoken agreement not to go into that topic anymore, and each did their best to follow it.

"People will probably be checking on Harry periodically anyway." Lyralei added.

Remus nodded. "Yes, and I'll be able to keep a close eye on him soon as well."

Lyralei looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

Remus smiled, "I got a job offer. Dumbledore asked me to take up the Defense Against the Dark Arts post this year."

Lyralei stared at her friend in astonishment before her face broke into its first genuine grin in ages. "Remus, that's great! It's fantastic! You'll be perfect for the job! Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Remus said, grinning at his friend in return. "I'm really happy about this. Dumbledore's great, to hire me and all."

'And why shouldn't he?" Lyralei demanded. "Like I said, you'd be perfect for the job. DADA was your major after all, and you're great with kids."

"Yeah, but you know, the werewolf thing..."

"It didn't matter when you were a student, and it should matter even less now." Lyralei said matter-of-factly. "Besides, didn't they come up with that new potion recently? You know, the one that helps people with their transformations?"

"Yes, they did." Remus affirmed. "And that's the only reason I accepted this job. It would have been much too dangerous otherwise."

Lyralei just nodded, knowing Remus well enough not to get him started on his 'I'm too dangerous to be around people or to have a proper life,' werewolf crap. He was a highly qualified and perfectly capable wizard, but most people couldn't see past their natural prejudice towards lycanthropy, which made Remus's life quite miserable at times.

Then Lyralei glanced at her watch and reluctantly made to get up. "I'd better go, Reems. There's a chance someone might track me here to you and think we're conspiring or something. They've done that before, you know. Besides, I have to get back to work."

Remus nodded and took her teacup for her. "Sure Lyri, thanks for coming over."

Lyralei shook her head. "I should be thanking you Remus. This is the best time I've had in a long while."

Remus smiled as she stood up and gave him a sisterly kiss on the cheek. "If you need anything, you know where to find me," she said.

"Yeah," Remus replied as Lyralei walked towards the fireplace. Then he stopped her, "Lyri..."

"Yes?" she asked, turning around. 

"Look, I know you're going to want to go after him, but if you do manage to find him, well, just be careful all right? No, don't look at me like that Lyr, you know perfectly well what I mean." he added as Lyralei fixed him with an icy stare.

"Don't worry about me Remus, I know what I'm doing."

"I hope so."

Lyralei conjured up a bright purple fire, and turned to face her friend in farewell as she stepped into the flames. Remus smiled good-bye, and then she was gone.

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AN: Remus!!! Yeah!!! Honestly, I didn't realize that I was writing Remus till the fifth paragraph or so. He just kind of slipped out of my fingers and onto the screen; sneaky werewolf. Still, gotta love him. :)

Oh yeah, great thanks to MWPP, Lyanire, and ANNE(v)79, my faithful reviewers for giving me feedback on the last chapter. Sorry about not getting around to individual replies, but the lethargy is really setting in, and I just wanted to get this thing posted before I delay it any further. Later!


	6. The thing with family

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. This fic was written purely for non-profit entertainment purposes, bla bla bla. Just read the damn thing.

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{One week later}

The desk in Lyralei's study groaned, literally groaned, under the weight of stacks and stacks of paperwork, various gadgets, and junk. Lyralei kicked one of its legs and sternly told the table to stop whining. The groaning stopped but the table seemed to sag slightly. Lyralei frowned and told herself for the millionth time to go and get a normal, muggle desk. One that couldn't complain. She usually preferred muggle furniture over wizarding ones, but she was attached to that desk, and knew that she would never get rid of it. She smiled wickedly and then blushed as she thought of the reason she was so fond of it.

Lyralei groaned to herself as she wrenched her thoughts back to all the work she had in front of her. It was almost midnight, and, not wanting to fall asleep in her office again, she had lugged most of her work home with her. 

Geez, this stuff is going to be hard to finish even if I worked through the night. It didn't really matter, tomorrow was a Saturday anyway. But thanks to a certain someone, namely Sirius, almost everyone in the Ministry was working and searching 24/7. It was nerve wracking. On top of everything she had to do, she was constantly worried that someone might actually find him. Her plan to mess up the investigation wasn't going as well as she thought. In truth, there wasn't much she could do without completely blowing her cover, and even then, things didn't look good. Her only consolation was that the Ministry wasn't doing well, even without her attempt at sabotage.

As she had suspected, Hit Wizards were sent over periodically to check on Harry Potter. It was all very discreet, of course, but she had some control over that. She herself had gone twice to see him. Harry had no idea, of course. He didn't know anything about Sirius either, and it was probably for the best.

Lyralei glanced at her watch, and then dived into the stack of papers again. About an hour later, her phone started ringing. Lyralei didn't realize at first, since she was stuck in a sort of work-induced stupor. Finally, she noticed and started moving files and folders around, trying to locate her phone. It was one of the perks about being a muggle-born, that you get the best of both worlds. Lyralei still had a few child-hood muggle friends who contacted her now and then, and of course there were her parents and the rest of her family. Even some people from the Ministry used a phone once in a while, so it was quite necessary that she kept one in her house.

Lyralei finally picked up the phone, wondering idly as she did so who would be calling her at this hour.

"Hello?" Lyralei said into the receiver.

"Lyralei? Hello sweetie; Happy Birthday." Answered a pleasant sounding female voice.

"Mother?" Lyralei asked incredulously.

"Of course darling, who did you think? I'm glad you're still up; I wanted to be the first to wish you."

"Wish me? Oh yeah, thanks Mom," Lyralei said as she frantically looked around for a calendar. 

"You're welcome."

Then, after a slight pause, Athena Maxwell sighed and said resignedly, "You forgot your birthday again, didn't you?"

"No!" Lyralei denied empathetically, but then said, "Well, yes actually, kind of."

"You're overworking yourself again, aren't you?" Athena asked accusingly.

"Of course not Mom. I'm completely fine, really." Lyralei lied.

"I don't believe you. You're exhausted; I can tell."

"Mother!" Lyralei said in exasperation, "I'm perfectly all right! I just forgot my birthday, that's all. It's no big deal; I've never liked birthdays anyway; you know that. And if I sound a little tired it's because it's after midnight, and I need to get to sleep soon."

"So you're honestly telling me that you're completely fine?" Athena asked.

"Absolutely."

"Good, then that means you won't mind if I come and see for myself."

"Of course no-, what do you mean come and see for yourself?" Lyralei asked, suddenly suspicious. "You're not planning to fly all the way over from the US just to see me right now, are you?"

Lyralei's mother laughed. "Don't be silly, dear. I'm not planning to fly over; I've already done it."

"What?" Lyralei asked blankly.

"I've arrived just a few hours ago darling. It was going to be a birthday surprise, but I just had to call you. I'm coming over to stay for a few days; isn't it splendid?"

Lyralei looked as if she had been told that her mother had suddenly turned into a bat. She completely lost her voice and almost dropped the phone.

"Lyralei?" Athena questioned, worry slightly evident in her tone.

Luckily Lyralei's voice came back just then and she managed to croak out into the phone, "That's great Mom! Tell me where you're staying so I can come and pick you up tomorrow."

After getting all the information and pleading sleepiness, Lyralei hung up and stared at her phone in slight horror. 

Her Mother was coming over now?! Why in the world did the woman choose _now for a visit? It was like the worst possible time, especially since Lyralei had just lied to her through her teeth. The fact was, she had completely forgotten that it was her birthday tomorrow, or rather today, judging by the time, and she _was_ overworking herself, but that couldn't be helped. Damn, now her Mother would come over and worry and fuss. Lyralei sighed. She loved her Mother, really, more than anything; but did she have to visit __now? Besides, the single biggest reason she got along with her family was the vast distance she kept between them. An ocean's distance, to be exact._

Lyralei got up and glowered over all her paper work. She couldn't do it now. She had to go clean up the house, make sure there was food in the kitchen, and then go and get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep so she wouldn't look like a zombie when her Mother saw her tomorrow. It was a terrible nuisance, but without doing at least that much, Athena Maxwell would probably start a big commotion and extend her stay just to get everything into order. She worried about her daughter a lot, but it was understandable.

When Voldemort was still in power, Lyralei had refused to let her parents move to England, or even visit. The easiest way to get to a muggle-born witch or wizard was through their muggle families. Lyralei couldn't let that happen to her parents. So naturally, even though she never told them the exact nature of her job, they were very worried about her. Then there was that horrible night, when her whole life got turned upside down. Lyralei had been very reluctant to tell anybody about it, even though her parents had to know, and she wouldn't let anybody get close or try to help her. She became even more withdrawn and wrapped herself in her work, so obviously her family had been extremely concerned.

As to the matter of Sirius, no one dared to even bring that up anymore, but it was as if her family was ashamed of the whole thing. She didn't really see them anymore, but they never forgot. Their little Lyralei with a murderer and all that. It was horrible. The fact that Lyralei was the only magical person in her family didn't help things either.

Lyralei got up and went to her living room, deciding on a methodical approach to clean the place up. For some reason, she felt an impulse to vacuum her carpets, instead of using magic on them. It gave her an odd sense of satisfaction to get things done the muggle way sometimes. So she went and dragged her old vacuum cleaner out from behind a closet and proceeded with Operation Cleanup.            After she was done vacuuming the house, she was thoroughly sick of cleaning and took out her wand instead. Within ten minutes, she had the entire house dusted, washed, wiped, and gleaming; all the pillows fluffed, and even the fireplace cleaned. Her desk still looked like a hurricane had hit it, but that couldn't be helped at the moment. 

Yawning, Lyralei trudged to her kitchen and started turning out cupboards. Unsurprisingly, she found nothing in the whole place except for some 6-month old ice cream, 2 frozen pizzas, some chocolate bars, a box of cereal, and for some reason a can of refried beans and some limp lettuce. Oh yeah, her Mom would definitely freak if she saw this. Lyralei threw almost everything away and washed the few dirty dishes that were in the sink. Then, resolving to get up early and do some major grocery shopping in the morning, she went to bed and fell straight asleep.

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Lyralei smiled in her sleep as she stretched lazily in her bed. She was having the most amazing dream, in which she and a certain someone were just about to-

*BRRRING, BRRING!!!* *BRRRING, BRRING!!!*

The young Auror shot straight up in bed, her wand in her hand and mind racing a mile a minute before she realized that the intrusion to her thoughts was nothing more than her very annoying alarm clock. Cursing profusely at the object of her irritation, she shut it up with her wand and got out of bed, while trying in vain to remember the details of her very delicious, yet extremely naughty dream.

Giving up finally as her thoughts came back to the present, Lyralei glanced at her calendar and saw that it was in fact her birthday today. She was turning 34; big whoop. It was no surprise that she had forgotten, honestly, who would want to remember their birthdays after they crossed 30? Technically, it shouldn't make that big of a difference to her, because witches and wizards generally had a longer life span and a longer period of youth than that of muggles. They reached middle age at least 20 years after muggles did, meaning a 60 year old wizard would be like a 40 year old muggle. It's not to say that they didn't mature as fast; they just lived longer. That was just a generalization, however, as many lived even longer than that. That's not to say magical folk always lived longer than muggles, because there are a lot more deadly things in the wizarding world than in the muggle world, even though wizards are usually immune to most muggle-banes.

Lyralei went to take a quick shower, reminding herself that she still had to go grocery shopping before going to pick up her mother. Then there was that huge stack of work waiting for her in her study, and she should probably stop by her office too, if she could get away that is...

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Lyralei stepped out of the bathroom in a robe, still toweling her hair, when she smelled something very unusual coming from downstairs.

Shit, someone's here... was Lyr's only thought before her mind went completely into Auror mode. For some strange reason, her wards hadn't gone off; so it couldn't have been a death eater...

Quickly whipping out her wand, Lyralei made herself invisible, cast a light, protective shield around her, and quietly crept down the stairs. The smell was coming from the kitchen; were the intruders trying to gas the place? How odd. Creeping up to the kitchen entrance, Lyralei threw herself around the door, her wand out and ready, only to have her hex die on her lips and her invisibility fade away slightly as she saw who it was. Then, for the second time in 24 hours, Lyralei Maxwell got so shocked she almost dropped her wand. She could only stare and finally managed to say incredulously, "Mother?!"

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"Hi Lyr. Sit down. How do you want your eggs?" Athena asked her daughter calmly, ignoring the fact that Lyralei's bodice and legs were still invisible.

Lyralei got over her shock and sat down at the table, right after making herself completely visible again.

"Mother, what are you doing here? I was supposed to come and pick you up in a few hours. How did you get here? And where are the eggs from?"

"Eat, you look like you haven't had a proper meal in ages," Athena said frowning as she set a plate of toast and eggs in front of her daughter.

"But-"

"_Eat."_

Lyralei frowned slightly, but took a bite of toast anyway.

Athena looked at Lyr, her face taking on a disapproving 'Mother' look.

"I got tired of waiting for you dear. Besides, I correctly guessed the state of your cupboards and did some serious shopping before I came over. Did you even realize that you had absolutely _nothing_ in your refrigerator except for a few frozen dinners? Honestly, it's no wonder you look so emancipated. I'm ashamed of you Lyralei; you promised me you'd take better care of yourself after last time."

Lyralei winced. She really was getting a bit too old to be lectured by her mother. "Mo-om, come on, give me a break. I was just a little behind on my shopping. Besides, it's been a little busy at work lately. I haven't had much time, that's all."

"So then," Lyr continued, trying to change the topic, "how long will you be staying?"

Her mother frowned at Lyralei again, this time more thoughtfully however. "Well, I was going to stay until about Tuesday or so, and then go to Paris in time for their Fall collection and to visit your Aunt Rose, but seeing the state you're in I think I'll extend my stay here."

"Oh, Mom, you don't have to do that! I'm a big girl, Mother, trust me, I can take care of myself!"

"Well, you're doing a horrible job of proving it," Athena said sternly to her daughter.

Lyralei winced again and tried a safer topic. "So, where's Daddy? Shouldn't he have come too?"

"Oh, he would have dear, but he's on a business trip in Japan; simply couldn't get out of it, you know."

Lyralei nodded, more at peace with her current predicament due to a full stomach. Besides, as tedious as it was sometimes to have her Mother around, Lyralei usually did feel better in some way. It was her Mother, after all, and Mothers tend to have that affect.

"So," Lyr asked cockily, looking up at her Mom, "watchya get me?"

Athena laughed at her grown-up, supposedly mature daughter. "So it's all about the presents, huh? I thought you had grown too old for that."

"No one's too old for presents," Lyr answered seriously.

Athena grinned. "Of course not. Anyway, I thought we'd go out, make a day of it, if you didn't have any other plans that is; don't tell me you have work to do, because I won't take that as an acceptable excuse today."

"Oh, well, I did have work today, actually," Lyr said hesitantly, "but I guess it could wait..." She stated, as if the idea were new to her.

Athena grinned at her daughter again. "Great! After we're finished here, I'm going to take you out shopping. Then we can go have lunch at Chez Louis; I already made reservations, and then I'll take you to that Zoo you used to love as a child, and I'll buy you an ice-cream, how about that? Or we could always go to the spa and relax there if you'd like. You do look like you could use a massage."

Lyralei looked at her mother in amazement, laughing at the Zoo part.

"You planned this whole thing out before you asked me, didn't you?" Lyralei asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Of course, sweetie; I'm your mother, what did you expect?" Athena answered calmly.           

Athena Maxwell was an intelligent, good-looking woman in her mid-fifties, very dignified, but had a little too much energy than was good for her, or so Lyralei often thought. Anyway, Lyr was proven right after their 4-hour shopping trip, in which Lyralei emerged in a state of nervous collapse and Athena was still as exuberant as ever. That could have had something to do with the fact that Lyr always had an aversion to shopping ever since she was a small kid. She had always been a tomboy when she was young, and some of that never changed.

Anyway, she completely revived over lunch in the best restaurant in town, and by the end of the day, as Mother and Daughter took a walk in the park, right after their trip to the zoo, which they did go to, Lyralei was in better spirits than she had been in a long time. She almost completely managed to forget the current crisis in her life. For the first time in a long time, Lyralei Maxwell was simply happy, without any guilt, to just be normal and enjoy all the little things life had to offer, even if it was only for one evening.

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AN: Eh, this chapter was lame, nothing more to it. What am I saying? It totally sucked. Sorry, I just kind of had a fetish, had to get rid of it you know. Don't worry; it's only a one-shot thing. Sorry about the long wait too. I think I might have forgotten about this. ~Winces~ Right. Anyways, uh, reviews, yes?

ANNE( v )79: When is Sirius going to appear? Umm, hold that thought, will you?

~Looks around frantically~ Aagghh!!! I've lost Sirius!

PrOwLiNg-WoLf: Wow. Thanks for all the reviews. I'd have to say that I agree with you about J.K. limiting herself by making Harry Potter a children's series, but then again, I guess that's what we're here for- to write fics that take her world and twist it into something beyond recognition. ~Cackles Evilly~

~Ahem~ Yeah. Also, though I say this grudgingly, I suppose your right. The idea behind the whole thing is still marvelous. Perhaps that's why I was so upset when she messed it up.

As to your other reviews, I want to thank you for taking the time to point out potential errors. Although, if you go back and check you'll see that all the word replacements you suggested would have simply made the sentence seem redundant. As to the flashback thing, yeah, I should have put an [end flashback] there, but I forgot so I put a note in the next chapter, but that's all quite obvious. Keep up the reviewing!

Lyanire: Thanks! And no, the flashback isn't going on in Lyralei's head. I just wrote it as a back round story.

MWPP: Lol. I couldn't have said it better myself. (Was that the wedding march?)

melody: Yup, definitely my first fic. I'm really glad you see a plot in this fic, because it tends to escape me from time to time. :)

            AN: Wow, all these reviews are doing wonders for my ego, which I'm sorry to say is already a little over-inflated…but don't stop! I think I'm addicted.


	7. Runaway

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter.

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The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith.  
The beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

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There was a knock on the door to Lyralei's office, and a moment later her secretary, Amanda, stuck her head in.

"Miss Maxwell?"

"Amanda? What are you still doing here? I thought you would have gone home hours ago."

"Uh, no ma'am. The secretarial staff has had to work longer than usual for the past week or so."

Lyralei sighed, "You and everybody else, I'm afraid. What is it?"

"Sorry ma'am, but Commander Vasrian just sent word that he wants to see you immediately. There's some sort of commotion going on outside; I just saw members from the Magical Reversal Squad head out, and someone said something about Harry Potter just-"

Amanda's rambling stopped abruptly as Lyralei disapparated in the middle of her sentence. It was somewhat rude, but Lyralei found out ages ago that it was the easiest way to shut her secretary up. Besides, this was urgent, and Amanda never seriously took offense.

Lyralei apparated straight to Vasrian's headquarters, and found Vasrian there, looking extremely harassed while he ordered a few remaining wizards around.

Lyralei heard one of his commands right before he saw her. He was saying to a young looking wizard, "And you! Go inform the Minister of this at once! I need to see him now! Lyralei, there you are!" he said, stating the last part in some relief.

"What's the matter?" Lyralei asked.

"It's Harry Potter," Vasrian replied. "We just got word that he's run away from his relatives' house. We have no idea where he is. Seems he's blown up his Aunt or something; it's a huge mess. For all we know, Sirius Black could get at him any moment, and my Second Officer is out on sick-leave, and the Third Lieutenant has suddenly disappeared! Now, of all times!" He finished, slightly hysteric.

"Damn," Lyr said, "Okay, relax; I'll handle this. How long has Harry been gone?"

"About 15 minutes, at least. We got word of it just a few minutes ago, and I just sent out the Group 2 Enforcers to try and find him."

"Okay," said Lyr. "So I'll go lead a 2 mile comb-search for Magic sensitivity around Harry's house. If Black's there, we'll get him."

"That would take too long!" Vasrian protested.

"Any better ideas?" Lyralei shot back. "We're running out of time here Steven!"

"All right, fine, go ahead." Vasrian said. "But hurry!"

Lyralei started to disapparate, but just then the Minister of Magic apparated in front of them.

"What's going on?" Fudge asked sharply, looking at them both.

Lyralei nodded to Vasrian and said "He'll explain. Excuse me, Minister." Then she left.

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Lyralei yawned tiredly as she came back home. It was past 2 in the morning. The fiasco was over, thank goodness. Turns out Harry had blown up his Aunt, and cleaning that up was torture. Luckily, it wasn't in Lyralei's department.

Lyralei did in fact initiate a comb-search, and that was how they figured out that the Knight Bus had picked up Harry. The only logical place for Harry to go to was Diagon Alley; he didn't really know of any other wizarding place. Like Lyralei had expected however, the search showed absolutely no sign of Sirius Black. Lyralei wasn't surprised at all. Even if Sirius was hanging around there, he would have been long gone by then. A comb search was a tedious operation that managed to pick up Magical traces in a given area. Once you have a magical trace, it's not too hard to figure out what that magic was used for. 

Anyway, if Sirius had been in that area, good chances are that he would have been emanating magic; most magic folk do it unconsciously; it was a kind of magical aura. The comb search would have easily picked it up, but the thing was, Lyralei was sure that Sirius's aura would have dimmed significantly due to his time in Azkaban. It might not have been picked up in the comb search, even in the extremely unlikely event that Sirius was in that area at the time, which Lyralei didn't believe.

It was a good thing he wasn't, because if he was then Lyralei would have been at quite a loss. There was no way she would have been able to keep people from finding out, and she never did like the idea of using a Memory Charm on people. It was tricky; you never knew what you were going to erase.

Right now, Harry was staying at the Leaky Cauldron. Unknown to him, two Ministry Aurors disguised as Warlocks were staying there too, sort of like personal body guards. They kept it a secret; they didn't want people getting hyped up about it. If everybody knew that Harry Potter was staying at the Leaky Cauldron for two weeks, the place would be crowded with reporters, fans, busybodies, and general Paparazzi. By now the whole Ministry knew all about Black and how he was after Harry, as they were involved in the mess, and the Inn Keeper knew too, but that was it.

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Lyralei woke up the next morning feeling more miserable than she had been in a long time. She had spent most of the night awake, thinking and worrying, mostly about Sirius. She hadn't gotten any sleep, and probably looked like shit. Lyralei went straight to her kitchen and made herself a cup of strong, black coffee. She didn't even drink coffee, but she was thankful for it now. The coffee powder was left over from when her Mother was here a few days ago. She had just left for Paris the day before yesterday, after making sure that the house was spotless and the refrigerator was full. Lyralei was hard-pressed to keep the news of Sirius's escape from her Mother, but did so because she knew nothing good could come of it if her family found out just then. They worried about her enough as it was.

Wrinkling her nose at the beverage, Lyralei never-the-less drank the whole thing in a few gulps, slightly burning her mouth. She did have to admit, however, that she felt a little better. Well, at least she felt awake.

Lyralei poured herself some more, and sat at her counter, mulling things over. It was getting pretty messy out there. The Ministry was absolutely no closer to catching Sirius than they were before, no matter what they told the public. That made everyone testy. They were keeping track of Harry of course, but Sirius didn't seem to be near him, which technically wasn't acceptable because that meant the one clue the Ministry had was useless. So everybody kept faith in the guess that Sirius had to be after Harry, and would follow him to Hogwarts. 

There was nothing else to do but go on combing the country side, which everyone was doing anyways. Every single major wizarding spot was so closely looked after that someone uttering the name of Sirius Black there would have the same affect as if someone yelled 'bomb!' in a muggle airport.

That wasn't all either. Apparently, the little fright Harry had given the Ministry yesterday made people, especially Cornelius Fudge, very paranoid. At the small conference they had last night after the minister had come back from settling Harry in, Fudge had vaguely mentioned something about sending dementors from Azkaban out. Lyralei wished more than anything that Fudge wouldn't follow up on that idea. The thought of dementors wandering everywhere, on Ministry orders that too, was horrible. Lyralei gave an involuntary shudder as she thought of them. She had dealt with dementors before, when she was an Auror, and again when she was trying to get Sirius free. They were horrible beings, yet at the same time a somewhat fascinating study, for the very few people who were actually interested in knowing more about them, (other than how they could be defeated).

Lyralei got up and started getting ready for work, considering half-heartedly whether or not to send an owl to Remus about this. If he was going to see Harry soon, he might as well know, and she owed him that much.

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AN: Eh, nothing much to say about this. I didn't really get too many reviews for the last one, so thank you ANNE( v )79 and prowlingwolf for taking the time. Remember, more reviews means faster updates. Thanks!


	8. The blame game

AN: I'm baaack....

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter.

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            Failure, failure, failure. Utter, complete, totally humiliating failure! That's what the Ministry was facing right now. It was almost two weeks after the Harry Potter fiasco, and the Ministry was becoming the laughingstock of the entire wizarding community and the fur was really starting to fly. See, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was being doubted and criticized by the public. It happened a lot, seeing as the Minister was a dunderhead to begin with, but now the tension was so thick at work that it could be cut with a knife. And what happens next? Why, the blame is spread around of course. The crap starts rolling downhill. From the Minister to his assistant to the Heads of Departments to their Second in Commands to the Investigative Specialists to the International Contacts and on and on until even the damn coffee boy was blamed and eventually fired for the disappearance of Sirius Black.

            Damn him, Lyralei thought, scowling in annoyance at the trouble Sirius was causing. Lyralei worked best in what she called 'organized chaos' and others called a complete mess, but this was a bit much even for her. She was surrounded by a fortress of files and papers and mails, and a steady stream of owls, messages, and people were storming in and out to see her. Her office looked like a war zone.

             This was getting really ridiculous. It had been quite a while since the Ministry had faced such failure, and in a way it was good for them, but being eluded by a wreck of a wizard, a damn jail bird, was quite embarrassing to everybody, degrading even. Lyr gave up all hope of going after Sirius on her own, at least for now. It would be quite impossible. But they needed to find him, for better or for worse, so Lyralei stopped all pretenses and dedicated most of her time to searching for him. There was a small part of her that actually wanted to recapture him, what with all the pain he'd caused.

            Lyralei was with Vasrian a lot, trying to figure out where Sirius could be and the best approach to finding him. She added in a few fake leads now and then, but other than that, she fully cooperated. Had to, at this point. 

            The whole damn Ministry was searching for Sirius now, and if they didn't find him soon, the Minister would be desperate enough to try something really drastic, like kill him on the spot. As of now, Aurors weren't given that privilege, but Lyralei had no doubt that they would be given a lot more leeway if Black wasn't captured soon. It was just like in the old days, when Voldemort was in power. Lyralei knew that giving Aurors extra powers would unnecessarily frighten the public. They would think there was something to be worried about, and get all panicky. A panicked public was the worst kind. It was just one more point in the Dark Side's favor, because causing panic and turmoil was one thing Voldemort thrived on. This whole affair had to be stopped before it got out of hand.

            If they captured Sirius soon, there was a chance for an interrogation, and that might, just might, help him. The Ministry would at least want to know how Sirius had escaped. Then, maybe, Lyralei might be able to get the answers she needed. No, if they captured him at all, which at this point was inevitable, it had to be now.

            To add to all that, her ignoramus of a boss (Fudge), decided to release the dementors. As of now, the dementors were only allowed to be stationed around Hogwarts, in order to 'protect' Harry. Even Dumbledore didn't like the idea, but the castle had to have some security. Lyralei just didn't think that putting dementors around a castle full of school children was the best idea. Most adults went weak at the knees when seeing a dementor; they didn't need to subject kids to that horror. At least the dementors would be staying outside the castle; Dumbledore was very firm about that.

            It wouldn't be long, however, before the dementors were going to be allowed to run more freely to help search for Black. As much as people were afraid of Sirius, Lyralei didn't think anyone would exactly like the idea of dementors freely roaming the streets. As long as Sirius kept a low profile, a _very_ low profile mind you, things would probably calm down in a little while. He hadn't done anything yet, at least not that they knew of, so that was good. If only Lyr knew what he was thinking of. Before, when they were together, it was as if they could read each other's minds. They could finish each other's sentences even before it was out of their mouths. Lyr had thought she knew him, but obviously she was wrong.

            The whole affair 12 years ago certainly hadn't increased Lyralei's faith in mankind. She wasn't a very trusting person in the first place, always tending to take a somewhat cynical view of things. It wasn't a bad attitude to have then, times being what they were, and her Auror training just added to her already suspicious nature. Unfortunately, as is often the case, even though the war was over, she wasn't quite over the war. It was kind of like how you can take a soldier out of a battlefield, but you can't always take the battlefield out of the soldier. Take Mad-Eye Moody for example. Lyralei's paranoia wasn't that extreme, of course, but it was something.

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            Lyralei lay sprawled across her recliner. She moaned as she pressed an ice pack to her head, willing her humongous headache to go away. It was a Saturday afternoon, and she had just gotten home from the Ministry, which she had been at since Friday morning. Due to her involvement in the search for Sirius, she had very conveniently neglected her normal job, which really wasn't something that could be ignored. It suddenly chose to spring up on her with the force of repressed water in a dam. She spent the last 48 hours cleaning up the mess and the problems that had developed due to her short period of neglect. Honestly, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. There was just no depending on people anymore.

            Suddenly, her fireplace roared to life (which didn't help her head) and the fire turned bright green. Lyralei groaned as she turned her head slightly to look at the flames. If this was someone telling her that some stupid crisis had turned up at work, well, they could go to hell. She couldn't move a muscle right now, even if she wanted to.

            Luckily, the shape that came revolving out of the fire turned out to be none other than Remus Lupin.

            "Hey Moony. Come in." Lyralei said.

            "You okay?" Remus asked as he sat down on a couch across from her.

            "Just dandy," Lyralei said, her voice slightly muffled due to the ice pack. "Except for the fact that I can't move."

            "Bad day at work, huh?"

            "That would be an understatement. Good timing, by the way. I just got back 5 minutes ago."

            "Didn't you get my owl?" Remus asked, frowning slightly.

            "What owl?" Lyralei asked. Just then, as if on cue, there was a rapping at the window, and a large Eagle Owl came swooping in, dropped a letter onto Lyralei's lap and then went to perch on Remus's out-stretched hand.

            "That owl," Remus replied. "Who is late, by the way," he said, glaring slightly at the bird, who calmly started preening himself, still on Remus's arm.

            "What's it say?" asked Lyralei, who just barely opened her eyes to glance at the envelope.

            "I just wanted to inform you that I was coming over to say good-bye."

            "Oh. Good-bye then. Where're you going?" Lyralei asked, still in a haze.

            "To Hogwarts, remember?" Remus answered patiently. "But first I'm going to get you something for that head ache and put you to bed."

            "Remus," Lyralei began in slight exasperation.

            "Quiet; I don't want to hear any arguments."

            "But-"

            At that, Remus took out his wand, pointed it at Lyralei, and performed a basic silencing charm. Lyralei, who still had her eyes closed, had no way of seeing it coming. She shot straight up as soon as she realized, wincing as her head pounded, and glared murderously at her friend.

            "I did warn you," said Remus smirking, as he walked out of the room.

            Damn, Lyralei thought. She hated being silenced. It was such an awkward feeling. She took out her own wand to perform the counter-charm, which was very tricky to perform on yourself, considering you couldn't speak. As soon as she managed it, she stormed out the door with her wand in her hand, looking for her victi-, uh, friend.

            "Remus!" she demanded, searching for him. "Come here!"

            "Drink this," he said, appearing suddenly from the kitchen. He forced a small measure of liquid down a very startled Lyralei's throat.

            "You, you," she sputtered, trying to rid herself of the potion's awful after-taste.

            "Yup." Remus said. Then he led her, still sputtering, to her bedroom and made her lie down. Lyralei regained her voice as he was pulling the covers up and said reproachfully, "You silenced me! And that stuff was disgusting!"

            "Yes honey, I'm sorry. But it's for your own good you know. Now don't struggle. I gave you a mild healing potion that should make you a little sleepy. You need your rest; you look completely exhausted." Remus said firmly.

            Lyralei rolled her eyes. "Remus, honestly, I'm-"

            "-fine, I know." Remus finished for her. "But just humor me this once, okay?

            Lyralei rolled her eyes again and settled back against her covers. "Yes _Mom,_" she said sarcastically.

            "Good," Remus replied, grinning down at her. "Now look, I'm leaving by Hogwarts Express tomorrow, and I probably won't be able to see you for awhile."

            Lyralei nodded, feeling drowsy as the effects of the potion started to kick in. "You know about the dementor thing, don't you?"

            "Yeah," Remus said, sighing heavily. "Can't say they're my favorite creatures."

            "They're looking to catch Sirius..."

            "I know."

            There was a small silence, which Remus broke, saying, "I'll mail you after things get settled down a bit."

            "Okay," Lyralei nodded again. "Good luck Remus."

            "Thanks," Remus replied, smiling at her. She was already nodding off, fighting the potion's influence.

            Remus bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, "Bye Lyri," he said.

            Lyralei smiled faintly and managed to say "Bye Reems," just before she succumbed to the potion.

            Remus looked at her once more, then turned and went from the room.

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AN: I'm not even going to bother listing the myriad of excuses I have for the lateness of this update, but just remember that this was written about a year ago and it's possible that I may have, uh, forgotten? Heh, heh... oops.

            I know I told a few of you that there would be action and that some of you are waiting for Sirius. I apologize for the lack of that in this chapter, but this was written a long time ago, and the sequence of the story would be messed up if I added that stuff in now. From this point I'll have to write new chapters, and hopefully I'll be able to fit a plot in somewhere.

            Make sure to review and let me know if anyone's still reading this!


	9. Surprise Visitor

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter.

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'Forgiveness is giving up the hope of a better past.'

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There was a knock on the door to Lyralei's office.

"Come in," she called distractedly, currently bent over some important papers that needed her approval. She was too preoccupied to wonder why Amanda hadn't informed her of her apparent visitor.

The door opened quietly and whoever it was stepped in and shut the door behind them. Lyralei didn't look up from her work, waiting for the person to speak. When they didn't after a moment, she looked up impatiently and said "Well?"

That was all she got to say however, for she was struck temporarily speechless when she saw who it was that had interrupted her. A man she hadn't met in over a decade.

The two people in the room just looked at one another for awhile. Finally, Lyralei stood up and stated simply, "Dumbledore."

Albus Dumbledore stood looking at his former student, smiling a little, seeming unaffected by her less-than-welcoming attitude.

"Hello Lyralei. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you. May I help you with something?" she asked, managing to sound polite and extremely cold at the same time.

"Perhaps. May I sit down?" he asked, his voice holding a hint of humor in it.

"Of course," Lyralei said in the same eerily cold voice, pushing out a chair in front of her desk with a flick of her wand.

Dumbledore smiled and came and sat down. "Please, do the same. It will make it easier to talk to you," he said pleasantly.

Lyralei sat down reluctantly and avoided looking into her old Headmaster's gaze. Her desk and chair were set up in a way that Lyralei would be looking down on whoever was sitting opposite to her. It usually made her seem more intimidating than the other person and had worked to her advantage several times before. This setting didn't seem to work with her old headmaster though. For a moment Lyralei felt like she was 15 again and was about to be punished by the Head for turning her Potion Master's hair green.

"So, how has life been treating you? Heard you've been quite busy recently, what with the whole Azkaban fiasco." Dumbledore said conversationally, as if they were old friends chatting about the weather.

"Yes," Lyralei replied curtly. Suddenly, she felt unimaginably tired and weary, as if the effects of the past few stressful weeks had chosen that moment to break through her defenses. She was tired of all this shit, congeniality be damned.

"Professor," Lyralei said wearily, looking straight into Dumbledore's sharp blue eyes, "What do you want? And cut the crap and small talk please. I'm tired. There's a reason we haven't spoken to each other in 11 years, if you would remember. Why the desire to change that now?" she asked harshly, even as a part of her winced at the fact that she had spoken to her old teacher so disrespectfully, even if they weren't on amiable terms at the moment.

To her surprise, Dumbledore chuckled as if enjoying a private joke. "Still the same old Lyralei, I see. Straight-forward and as impatient as ever."

"Impatient?" Lyralei asked, arching one elegant eyebrow. "The way I see it, I've spent way too much of my life waiting. It gets you nowhere."

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

Lyralei's retort froze on her lips as she realized that they had taken a very drastic turn in their topic of conversation.

"Because," she said softly, almost bitterly, "someone has to, don't they?"

"Lyralei," Dumbledore began softly, his demeanor gentle, understanding.

"Save it!" Lyralei replied harshly, pushing away from her desk. "Just save it, all right? I have absolutely nothing to say to you anymore."

"Why not?"

"Why not?" she mocked. "Why not?! You know bloody well why not!"

"Tell me."

"Fine! Would you like the long list or the longer one?"

"If this is still about Sirius..."

"Don't say that name in front of me! You have no right to even think it, and no this is not about him!"

"Then what is it about?"

"Lot's of things! Not the least being how you took my Godson away from me!"

Dumbledore sighed. "Lyralei, we've been over this a hundred times; Harry is _not_-"

"-my godson, yeah I've heard it all before, and I still say it's all bullshit!"

"Lyralei, you were never appointed-"

"Damnit Dumbledore!" Lyralei cut him off, exasperated, "the only reason Harry's not with me right now is because of a fucking legal technicality, and you know it!"

"You know quite well that it was in their will that-"

"Yeah, I know! But tell me this; did it say anywhere that Lily and James wanted their precious boy to grow up with those horrible muggles?! No, it didn't! You decided to play God again and gave him up wherever you pleased!"

For the first time, Dumbledore frowned at her. "I did it for the child's good. Harry is safe where he is."

"Oh, of course," Lyralei said, her voice oozing sarcasm. "The only way to keep Harry safe was to leave him with some half-assed muggles who didn't believe in magic and a damn squib who spends her days talking to cats!"

"Lyralei-"

"But God forbid you leave him with his powerful auror Godmother who loves him and would have done any earthly deed possible to keep him safe!"

Dumbledore looked at her quietly, patiently waiting for her to finish her tirade. Lyralei glared furiously and opened her mouth to continue, but then seemed to deflate and slumped back in her chair dejectedly. There wasn't much point getting into this again.

"What do you want Professor?" she asked again in a weary tone.

"Your help," came the straightforward answer.

Lyralei gave a short humorless laugh. "Figured this wasn't a social call," she said. "So tell me, what sort of 'help' could the Almighty Dumbledore possibly require from little ol' me?"

"I need you to find Sirius."

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AN: Cliffhanger? No, not really. I'll have the next part up in a few days; promise!


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